WiiWare Poker Game Is Too Sexy For Australia

Australia's fine tradition of banning games continues. This time it's a WiiWare poker game provocatively titled Sexy Poker.

Gamespot reports that the Gameloft developed strip poker game was refused classification because it utilised nudity as a reward. And the MA15+ category - the highest allowed in our games classification scheme - doesn't like that.

I'm wondering what might happen if Gameloft decides to edit the game to cater for the MA15+ guidelines. Perhaps your female poker opponents could begin each game naked and put their clothes back on when you win. Bingo! Nudity is no longer a reward!

Comments

I'm an Aussie and my god, this latest game ban is just straight out humiliating. It speaks of true, undeniable hypocrisy and lack of logic.

Why is it against the rules to use nudity as an incentive/reward, yet blowing innocent peoples heads and limbs off for experience points and loot in Fallout3 is OK for 15 year olds? It doesn't make the slighest bit of sense. What about Playboy: The Mansion also? It was released uncut in Australia and enables the player to unlock real-life nude shots of woman as REWARDS. Yet another blatant inconsistent decision by the OFLC. I can't understand how nudity in a video game is somehow worse than actually playing strip poker (which is legal of course), or viewing an unrestricted softcore Penthouse magazine which is available to people UNDER the age of 15. Why is it that simply because it's in video game form, politicans suddenly assume it's going to corrupt the population? What sense does it make that I, as an adult, can actually have sex but playing a video game with sex & nudity is unacceptable?

I am so very sick to death of this nanny state - the current classification system is based on heresay and conjecture rather than facts. What is this, 1458? We're in 2009 and laws are still being made based on personal opinions of politicans. Where is the objectivity? In Australia, apparently it doesn't matter.....Because the politicans know best *sigh*

It's time the classification system was completely overhauled. In a liberal democracy this kind of censorship is just straight out unacceptable and embarrassing. Looks like I'll be downloading yet another banned game.

Well Andy, WiiWare is generally purchased online, instead of in shops. I don't know if the distribution method for a game does or should affect the rating given to it, however the rating definitely shouldn't be affected by retailers breaking the law by selling games or DVDs to underage children.

I really don't see why an R rating is still being refused for videogames.

Retailers have been cracking down more on who buys which games. But that doesn't stop the ignorance of adults who just buy children any game because it's a game.
Really I think an R rating should be introduced and a proper campaign to show the ratings for games properly and why they are rated that way like they do with movies because people just aren't getting the message and then people like myself who would like to play such games and am over 18 heck over 21 if they want to get as picky as the US miss out on such titles because they are censored because people worry about children playing them.

If movies can get away with it why not videogames? It's a big industry and I think it's about time such things stopped being ignored.

Heck look at the stats Kotaku showed over that rapesim dispute in Japan.
Japan has a much lower sexual assault rate than Australia does and they are known to be one of those perverted countries when it comes to videogames. Maybe other countries should consider if the low sexual crime rate is related to the fact that people can indulge there fantasies in a game rather than in real life. I don't know if it is. But it very well could be.

Maybe it's time we thought about being a little more perverted in some areas, to distract people from real life perversions. You get what I mean.

I maintain that people who play games are less violent than people who don't.

Andy, the Wii already comes with in-built parental controls which can effortlessly prevent children from using Wii points (or Nintendo points) without knowing their parents' PIN.

Parents should be responsible enough to supervise their children's use of gaming console - the parental controls make it much easier for them to do that. Their kids would have as much chance of guessing the PIN on their parents' ATM card.

Surely by the standards you've described, all games available to buy online should be suitable for children then, right? Possibly the PG classification would even be out of the question - after all, we can't be sure that parents are supervising their children whilst they're playing the games...

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